In general, an operation in which samples are arbitrarily extracted and analyzed from a sample set that includes specific factors, and the effective factors are then selected for an intended determination or identification, has been implemented in various industrial fields.
Especially, such a technology of selecting effective factors is researched with respect to micro-array technology that has rapidly progressed recently and bio-informatics that apply the micro-array technology. Namely, when a gene is considered as a factor, for example, and in order to select the genes that may be related to cancer, the sample sets from cancer and non-cancer patients are analyzed, and the genes that are highly likely to be related to carcinogenesis are selected.
The micro-array technology is rapidly progressing by application of the nanotechnology, where the genes can be analyzed comprehensively and systematically based on their gene expressions. The micro-array quantifies mRNA in a biological system, thereby enabling to measure all the expressed amounts of the respective genes. How to achieve useful knowledge from an extensive amount of gene expression information provided from the micro-arrays depend entirely on the bio-informatics, thus, the bio-informatics play an extremely important role in the field of life science.
The micro-array technology and the bio-informatics have a close relationship with one another where they both need to progress hand in hand, otherwise no meaning/value will be found. The micro-array technology in Japan is ranked highest among the world, yet on the other hand, currently, the bio-informatics has greatly fallen behind other countries, thus, the micro-array research lacks in international competitive strength contrary to the high level of its technology.
Therefore, an immediate advancement in research and development is desired in the bio-informatics. Currently, there are several technologies related to this field that have been proposed.
For example, patent document 1, Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-38256, discloses an invention by the title of “Effective Factor Information Selection Apparatus, Effective Factor Information Selection Method, Program, and Recording Medium”, where a factor effective for multivariate analysis and pattern recognition is selected, thereby effectively reducing the number of factors.
In the effective factor information selection apparatus disclosed by this document, in order to select the factors that are effective in the multivariate analysis by using samples, an average and a standard deviation are determined from two groups of sample information with different attributes, where more specifically, they utilize the equations shown in the specification of this document.
According to this effective factor information selection apparatus, when there are two groups, by selecting the effective factors that show differences between the two groups, the effective factor information can be selected.
Further, patent document 2, Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-61678, discloses an invention by the title of “Screening Method and Sensitivity Determining Method of Genes” where although it is an invention specified for screening the genes, it is also a method that enables to select and extract a gene associated with sensitivity to medication and radiation.
The method disclosed by this document includes a process for dividing several disease carrying patients into a first patient group who show signs of sensitivity to medication or radiation and a second patient group who show no signs of sensitivity to medication or radiation, a process for analyzing the expression profiles of the genes from the first patient group and the second patient group, and a process for selecting one or more genes that show a significantly different degree of expression by statistically examining the genes between the first and second patient groups.
Further, patent document 3, Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-298178, discloses an invention by the title of “Statistical Analysis of Adjusting Factor Bond Part of Differentially Expressed Gene” where the adjusting factor bond parts with differentially expressed gene are identified and characterized.
The technology disclosed by this document is systematic analysis of the adjusting factor bond part of the differentially expressed gene which is a statistical analysis method of the differentially expressed gene. The analysis method includes a process for obtaining a set of differentially expressed genes, a process for screening a genome arrangement including an adjustment range of the differentially expressed genes in the existence of the adjusting factor bond part, and a process for comparing it either with a background of the genome scale or a background of the system scale and identify at least one of the adjusting factor bond parts enriched within the set of the differentially expressed genes.